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The New Lex Luthor Is "Complicated, Challenging," Says Jesse Eisenberg

Jesse Eisenberg in 'Now You See Me'

Expect a "real psychology" behind the newest version of Superman's arch-enemy

While we’ve seen Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman in their Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice costumes — with the latter even being seen in drench-o-vision as part of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge — Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor has been surprisingly absent from any pre-release hype to date. In a recent interview, the actor merely added to the mystique around the new take on everyone’s favorite mad scientist.

“I got to know one of the writers really well, Chris Terrio, and we were able to discuss things at length and figure out who this person is to create a real psychology behind what is, perhaps, in a comic book, a less than totally modern psychology,” Eisenberg told Total Film Magazine when asked about the role, adding “I can only say I've been asked to play an interesting role: a complicated, challenging person.”

The Social Network star did spill the beans that he had to express interest in playing Superman’s long-standing nemesis before even seeing a script for the movie. “They asked me if I wanted to play the part before they sent me the script,” Eisenberg said. “You know, they don't just hand the scripts out.”

Despite his success to date, Eisenberg said that he was prepared for Lex to propel him into another level of celebrity. “To say, I can't do that which will appear in thousands of theaters on opening day, but I can do this which will appear in this amount of theaters... It's arbitrary,” he reasoned, before turning the thought into a compliment for the production as a whole. “I realize how popular comic-book movies are, and now, working on one, I realize why they're popular — the story is really good, the dialogue is really good, the artistry behind every department is high, the acting is really good.”

With the movie still more than a year away from release — and, indeed, still in production — it’s not surprising that we’ve not seen Eisenberg’s Luthor yet, but now that the actor is talking about the role, someone needs to ask the one question that really matters: Is he playing the role bald, as Lex Luthor should be, or in the Gene Hackman method of “supposedly wearing a wig throughout the entire movie for reasons of vanity”?